Greetings –

NEW EIN WEB POSTINGS FOR DECEMBER
Under MANAGING YOUR LLI
Mini Courses – Wheelock LLI, MA
The Tale of the Magic Carpets – OLLI, Portland, ME
Computers for Seniors Questionnaire – A.L.L., Cape Cod, MA
The History of Kansas City – SPARK, Kansas City, MO
LIR Members Come Through – LIR, Inc. Athens, GA
Volunteer Projects – OLLI, Duke University, NC
LLI Registration Procedures – Across the Network
Summer Enrichment Series – OLLI, Huntsville, AL
Under LLI NEWS
LLI News for December
Under LLI CONGRATULATIONS
LLI Congratulations for December

THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the inquiry from the LLI at Bard College in New York about registration procedures. The response was fantastic and the program now has a lot of excellent input from all of you. It will help them very much. You can read all the responses this month on our web site.

CHECK YOUR LISTING
Please take the time to check your program listing on the EIN web site which can be found under the FIND A LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE link at www.elderhostel.org/ein/intro.asp. Make sure we have all the correct contact information. This is especially important if your program has recently changed its name. Prospective members look here all the time for nearby programs.

WELCOME NEW AFFILIATES
Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Tulsa, OK
Lifelong Learning, Long Island University, Orangeburg, NY
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of North Dakota
Lifelong Learning Program, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Academy for Lifelong Learning, Kingwood College, New Caney, TX

POSITIVE AGING CONFERENCE
Eckerd College will be the host institution for the National Positive Aging Conference: Beyond the Cutting Edge December 6-8, 2007. Designed for professionals who provide services and programs for older/mature adults, the 2007 Positive Aging Conference will explore a wide variety of strengths-based topics that enrich the lives of eager participants nationwide and around the world. The Conference, the first of its kind, targets those individuals who find themselves asking, How can I work more effectively with the emerging Baby Boomer retiree cohort - some 76 million strong? Do my current programs lack the luster of the past? How can I re-energize my services to attract a broader segment of my community to my programs?

"Participants in the Positive Aging Conference will learn about current and future trends in services and programs for mature adults," says Jim Frasier, Conference Planning Facilitator from Eckerd College. "We expect that participants will increase their commitment to a philosophy of 'positive aging' through association with national and international thought leaders and practitioners."

Workshops, discussions, demonstrations and experiential activities will address these focus areas:
- Brain & Physical Fitness - Purposeful Living - Creativity in Later Life - Intergenerational Programming - Third Age Life Planning - Lifelong Learning - Thriving in Community

The opening session, "Positive Changes that Occur Because of Aging, Not in Spite of Aging," on Thursday, December 6, will feature a conversational-style interview between Gene Cohan, Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University and Michael C. Patterson, AARP Educator Community Manager.
REGISTER ONLINE - For more information about the 2007 National Positive Aging Conference: Beyond the Cutting Edge, visit www.eckerd.edu/positiveaging.

INFORMATION DRAWER
The IRP in New York City has come up with an interesting and very helpful idea - the Information Drawer. Sponsored by the Information and Resources Committee, it is a "must see" for all members who wish to discover current information on vital interests such as medical and
financial concerns, volunteering, housing, hearing and visual issues and numerous other areas. New information is always welcome. This is a way to share information that is relevant to members’ issues and filter the deluge of information that we receive. The folder is stored in the drawer in the Cafe /Lounge area.

CAN THAT SPAM!
Our thanks to the Lifetime Learning Institute at Northern Virginia Community College for the following tips for reporting and getting rid of spam.
1. Forward any spam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at:   spam@uce.gov. Forwarding spam to the agency may not   immediately stop it, but it will help FTC to compile a database that   can be used to bring federal action against spammers.
2. Let the FTC know if a “Remove me” request is not honored. To   report it, go to www.ftc.gov and complete an online complaint form.   Your complaint will be forwarded to the FTC Consumer Sentinel   database and made available to hundreds of law enforcement and   consumer protection agencies.
3. Send a copy of the spam to your internet service provider’s abuse   desk. Go to www.ftc.gov to find more information about this   process. Bu sure your complaint includes the full email header from   the spam.

OLLI MEMBERSHIP CARDS
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of N. Florida in Jacksonville has developed two-sided membership cards. The front will have the member’s name, member since date, and member expiration date. The back will list the departments and discounts each one is offering. For instance, the Aquatics Center is offering a four-month or one year discount, the GolfPlex is offering faculty rates to members, and Continuing Ed is offering 10% discounts on their courses.

COURSES THAT MAKE YOU THINK
Among the programs being offered this fall at the Stonewall Lifelong Learning Institute at Wheelock College in Boston are the following: Gay People and the Media - Women Film Directors: Through the Eye of A Woman - Amy Hoffman, will be reading from her new book, An Army of Ex-Lovers, My Life at the Gay Community News - Rochelle Ruthchild and Libby Bouvier present The Making of “Left on Pearl, a documentary about the early 1970’s occupation of a Harvard-owned building that led to the founding of The Women’s Center, and nourished the radicals who contributed to other institutions and movements in Boston. Rochelle and Libby will show a trailer from the movie and describe its production and purpose – and eventual screening, scheduled for 2008.

THE MODERN LIFE
This year’s conference, February 13-15, 2008 and sponsored by Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina has as its theme: “The Modern Life: The Challenges and Advantages to Living and Learning in the 21st Century,” a theme that prompts us to ask questions about the big issues that impact our world – such as healthcare, technology, environment, energy, security, business, economy, government, communications, children and education. Members of the Coastal Carolina Lifelong Learning program are planning to present a program entitled: Lifelong Learning: Hallmark of a New Enlightenment. It's centered on the theme that Lifelong Learning is no longer an option in our modern society...it's a necessity for anyone who wants to remain engaged throughout a modern lifetime challenged by the impacts of globalization on our socio-economic systems, exploding technological developments and a major increase in lifespans. It will aim at making the case for a new and expanded role for universities in meeting this growing societal need. They would like to include video-taped testimonials from individuals (which will be incorporated into a PowerPoint presentation) who recognize the importance of Lifelong Learning and believe it should be an integral part of the missions of our universities worldwide.

A.L.L. ON THE MOVE
The most recent addition to the Academy for Lifelong Learning on Cape Cod, Massachusetts is a new satellite program at the Senior Center in Mashpee. This spacious new building is situated in a complex of municipal facilities near Mashpee Commons. In addition to classroom space, the Mashpee facility provides a location that is more convenient for many. Its easier parking and access to the one-story building also are attractive to those with mobility problems. Three A.L.L. classes are meeting there and these classes are also being offered at the West Barnstable campus.

THE BEAT GENERATION
Members of the Institute for Retired Professionals in New York City are studying The Beat Generation: Looking Back 50 Years Later. In 1957 Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl was cleared of charges of obscenity and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was published, thus launching the Beat Generation. There were only a few members of the original group, yet the energy of a whole generation came to a head through their efforts, and their influence extended for decades. They read, among others, works by Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs and their associates, such as Ferlinghetti, Corso, Snyder, and DiPrima. Responses to their ideas in film, paintings, and music are also considered. Readings total about 50 pages a week. A field trip to the New York Public Library’s special exhibit on Jack Kerouac is planned.

COOKIE WALK – HOLIDAY TEA
Members of the L.I.F. P. program at Mount Saint Mary College in New York will be taking part in their Holiday Cookie Walk this month. They will bring in a tray of their own favorite holiday cookies (4-6 dozen) and go home with a basketful of assorted cookies of their choice. Money raised will be used to fund the L.I.F.E. refreshment table. The fee is $5 per basket. Members will also enjoy the annual Holiday Tea. They will get to see the campus decorated for the holidays and enjoy delicious homemade tea sandwiches and sweets. The fee is $15.

ADVANCE SCREENING
This past spring members of the Lifetime Learning Institute at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale had the opportunity to preview the Ken Burns documentary “The War.” Along with viewing it in advance, they were also treated to a discussion with two staff members from PBS who gave background and insight into the series.

PHYSICS FOR EVERYONE
Physics for Everyone was the title of a course given this past spring at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Based on New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Science Standards, ten sessions comprised the physics course you should have had in high school or have long forgotten. Fundamental concepts from Newtonian to Modern Physics was explored and demonstrated. The course was not just a lecture series. Each session engaged participants in “hands on,” “minds on” learning activities without mathematics. Participants followed up on this course with Really Modern Physics. This course introduced relativity and quantum mechanics along with a careful analysis of why the concept of inflation is of crucial importance to understanding how our universe formed and how the concept was recently corroborated by a Hubble Telescope measurement of the polarization of the microwave background radiation. The course then considered supersymmetry and supersymmetric string theory.

SYMPHONY DISCOUNTS
Current members of the Lifelong Learning program at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina are being offered a 10% discount on tickets from the Long Bay Symphony. This is an example of LLIs working the build synergy within their community with members as well as cultural organizations benefiting by that synergy.

NEW BOOKS FOR LLI COURSES
For the fall session, thanks to the course, Pens & Swords, Meet the Authors, members of Learning in Retirement, Inc. in Athens, Georgia were introduced to three new books by their authors.

Kentucky Boy: The Top First Grade, by Louis J. Boyd. When Louie Boyd wanted to leave his descendants a gift that would last a lifetime, he did something quite amazing: he wrote a book, Kentucky Boy. It is a delightful read that chronicles his birth in 1928 in the lowland tobacco-growing area of Kentucky, a work-filled childhood, and youth that taught him the discipline he’d need to meet the challenges ahead, the love of a close-knit family that he would likewise bestow upon his own, and his union with his life’s partner, a Kentucky girl named Becky.

Under the Liberty Oak, by Paige M. Cumming. Under the Liberty Oak is a taut, fast-paced mystery which adroitly shifts between the tumultuous events of the summer of 1964 and the present life of concert pianist Brittan Lee Hayworth, as new discoveries unleash old and painful memories. That summer in Liberty, Georgia, civil rights workers and riders of the invincible empire clashed as a new South was being born. For ten-year-old Brittan Lee and her best friend, it is a foreboding time in which old loyalties and the mettle of new friends are tested to the limit. A cataclysmic hurricane and fires cause two deaths and the disappearance of a young girl, leaving Liberty and Brittan Lee in turmoil.

We Are What We Were: Memories of Rural North Carolina, by Gene Younts. We Are What We Were is a reminder that our personal characteristics reflect life’s total experiences and the traits inherited from our forebears. Everything we have lived, breathed, and touched has made us what we are today. The years from 1920 to 1950 frame the heart of the course. This period saw us coming out of World War I anxious to never see war again. It included the greatest economic depression the United States experienced in the 20th century, followed by World War II, which put more than 16 million men and women into military uniforms.

NEW WEB SITES FOR LLI COURSES

The French Revolution
Companion site to a documentary that introduced the people and events of the French Revolution, covering the formation of the National Assembly to the storming of the Bastille, the women's march on Versailles to the detainment of the king and queen, and more. Includes a timeline (1770-1796), a Revolutionary Challenge game, and photos and video clips from the documentary. From the History Channel.

Liberty, Equality, Frasternity: Exploring the French Revolution
Detail-rich site that includes topical essays, hundreds of images and documents, song recordings (including "La Marseillaise"), maps, a timeline, and a glossary. Covers the storming of the Bastille, Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the fall of the monarchy.
A project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the American Social History Project at City University of New York.

Guns, Germs and Steel
Based on Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, 'Guns, Germs and Steel' traces humanity's journey over the last 13,000 years with a focus on understanding "the roots of global inequality. Features descriptions of and transcripts from episodes of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) show, essays related to topics explored in the book (such as crops, domesticated animals, and smallpox), recommended books and websites, and lesson plans.

Commentary Today
This site is devoted to presenting the most diverse and comprehensive collection of opinions and commentary from America's leading columnists. Every day this site is updated with the most recent articles from dozens of political columnists. Browsable by political viewpoint ("on the left" and "on the right"). Also includes discussion boards relating to the articles.

That’s all for this month.
Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed.
Elderhostel Institute Network
Nancy.merz-nordstrom@elderhostel.org
www.elderhostel.org/ein/intro.asp
617-457-5564

“To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization.” …Arnold Toynbee







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